The newly bespectacled grandmother can’t help but answer with a bright smile, the kind of smile she perhaps hasn’t given for quite some time.

Some 20 volunteer ophthalmologists and staff of EyeCare WeCare are in Bayambang this time, serving hundreds of visually impaired Bayambangueños at the Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation (KKBF) in Amanperez. They will be here until April 29, Sunday.

Ms. Lozano is the lead organizer of the event, also dubbed “Love Your Eyes Project,” in her capacity as President of the National Council of Women of the Philippines. They call her Commissioner Lozano, for she is also a member of the Philippine Commission on Women. Together with EyeCare’s Ed and Susan Damilao, the Innerwheel District 383 of San Nicolas, Makati, and the Women’s Rights Movement of the Philippines in coordination with KKBF and LGU-Bayambang, Lozano oversees the day’s operations, specifically the offering of free eye checkups, inspection of cataracts for hospital referrals, and eye glasses (both reading glasses and prescription glasses).

According to Lozano, who happens to be a native of Brgy. Buenlag 1st, Bayambang, and the wife of the recently deceased Atty. Oliver Lozano, all their equipment came from the United States.

A typical eye checkup today costs P500-P600 and prescription eyeglasses will set you back by P2,500-P3,000, so availing of this golden chance means a lot of savings.

Emblazoned on EyeCare’s Clinic on Wheels is this motto: “Delivering God’s ultimate vision plan to the poor.” And just outside the KKBF building, a tarp announcement says, “Train your mind to see the good in everything.”

Now those are quite interesting vision-mission statements, one that is literal and one that goes beyond.